The county’s request for grant funding from a state agency to
clean up New Idria Mine’s mercury contamination was declined, for
now, due to a lack of funding.
The county’s request for grant funding from a state agency to clean up New Idria Mine’s mercury contamination was declined, for now, due to a lack of funding.
Some supervisors at the Board meeting Tuesday expressed discontent in a letter received from the State Water Resources Control Board based in Sacramento.
In it, the state board’s executive director, Celeste Cantu, wrote the cleanup project qualified for funding; however, there’s no money available.
Cantu further stated that the water board would keep the county’s application until there is money, which would take “six months or more.”
Supervisor Reb Monaco represents the New Idria area in southern San Benito County.
“What (the state board) basically has said (is) ‘We understand there is a need. We will hold it for six months. We don’t have any problem with that, but there’s no money,'” Monaco said.
Supervisor Ruth Kesler spoke during the meeting of sentiment expressed to her by other state and county leaders at a conference she attended last week in Sacramento.
“There’s no money, period,” Kesler said.
The rejection signals a blow to recent hopes among San Benito County officials for a possible abatement project, which they say the county’s General Fund can’t afford.
Supervisor Richard Scagliotti at Tuesday’s meeting said he doubts the state board’s coffers would expand in the next six months, as County Administrative Officer Terrence May nodded in agreement.
“It’s kind of like a blow off to me,” Scagliotti said.
New Idria is a barren town with a population of less than 10 residents. Its historic mine site, the nation’s largest producer of mercury during parts of the 19th and 20th centuries, has leaked highly acidic water into the nearby San Carlos Creek since the late 1970s.
The pollution has affected about five miles of the creek, causing it to turn orange and killing off potential for aquatic wildlife.
The total cost for such an effort has been estimated at around $2 million by the county’s hired environmental consultant, Applied Marine Sciences.
Officials are still awaiting word whether federal funding could get a cleanup started. U.S. Congressman Sam Farr has expressed hopes of obtaining federal dollars.
Monaco said the county is “still exploring some federal avenues.”
“I don’t want to go out and say it’s fairly certain,” Monaco said. “I know that Sam Farr is working on it with us.”
The county in December applied for a federal grant for $200,000, which is pending, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If obtained, EPA would award the funding in October.
